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Protection and use of historical and cultural heritage

29 January 2014

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The Committee of Majilis for Social and Cultural Development, reviewed the current state of affairs in the field of protection and use of historical and cultural heritage.

In Kazakhstan, there are over 25,000
immovable monuments of history, archeology, architecture and art, 218 of them
were included in the State List of historical and cultural monuments of
national importance. There are more than 2 million 56 thousand units of
cultural values that are stored in the funds and expositions of the state
museums.

The attitude of society and the state to the
historical and cultural heritage changed in the process of development of
Kazakhstan after independence. The legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan
was formed and improved during this period. Active development has received a scientific
cooperation in the field of protection and promotion of monuments with foreign
and international organizations such as UNESCO, ICOMOS. Two monuments of
international importance have been included in the UNESCO World Cultural and
Natural Heritage List.

One of them is the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yassaui in Turkestan. The
second site, "Rock petroglyphs of Tamgaly» is one of the oldest and most
striking monuments of rock art in Semirech'e, plenty of petroglyphs were found
here at the end of 1950. In addition, the country has a number of outstanding
archaeological objects (31 objects), which included in the tentative list of
UNESCO World Heritage Sites under the serial transnational nomination to the
Great Silk Road.

The process of allocation of the land plot from the state fund to
private ownership is becoming more popular due to the intensification of the
housing and public works in cities, as well as with the development of economic
activities in the agricultural areas. Archaeologists carried out the
intelligence works only in terms of the implementation of special projects that
require a large-scale allotment of land. In other cases, the land acquisition,
both in cities and in rural areas, is carried out without the involvement of
archaeologists. These trends lead to the widespread of violation of the
legislation on the protection and use of cultural heritage, as most of the land
that was not surveyed for the presence of archaeological sites, becoming unavailable
for further scientific research.

There are many examples: the construction of water supply system in the city
of Otrar, it is a monument of national significance, it should be included in
the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is also an allocation of land for
laying the fiber optic line in the territory of the unique settlements, one of
the capitals of Ak Orda Sauran and capital of Karluk dzhagbu of 8-13 centuries
Kajalyk. Also the world famous ancient cities of Taraz and Ispijab, the city
that was mentioned in all of the medieval sources. Only within the territory of
modern Almaty, the archaeologists found eight ancient cities, and today there
are nothing left.

Kazakhstani lawmakers, noted the special importance of archaeological sites,
gave them a special legal status. The rapid technological and scientific
progress and rapidly changing social relations, lead to the obsolescence of
their regulatory standards and stagnation in the legal sphere. This problem
must be addressed by improving the legislation, which is able to give a new
impetus to advance the cause of preservation, revival and popularization of
historical and cultural monuments.

ХХХ

The Chairman of the Kazakhstan Archaeological Society Carl Baipakov,
President of the «Fund of Auezov» Murat Auezov attended the discussion of the
topic. Moreover, the director of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.H. Margulan,
Bauirzhan Baytanaev, the dean of the Faculty of History of Kazakh National
University named after Al-Farabi, Zhaken Taimagambetov and General Director of
"Archaeological examination" Dmitry Voyakin, also shared their views
on the problem.

Following the discussion, the parliamentarians
intend to make appropriate recommendations.

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